


mariana's melody

by worksofgies



Series: the story of you [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, Mystery, Ocean, POV Second Person, Realistic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-02
Updated: 2019-07-02
Packaged: 2020-06-02 23:10:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,351
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19451401
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/worksofgies/pseuds/worksofgies
Summary: Aboard the USS Catalyst, you descend into the Pacific in an attempt to find what the ocean holds for you. As you sink beneath the waves, you find out that there might be a reason man was never meant to go here.





	mariana's melody

**Author's Note:**

> based upon the mariana's trench! just a fun little sci-fi story.  
> enjoy!

Defying all odds to find what lies at the bottom of the Marianas Trench, going further than ever before for the sake of human exploration, only four men in the history of your world, Jacques Picard, Lt. Don Walsh, James Cameron, and  Victor Vescovo have managed to reach the deepest point on Earth. 

Today, you bring that number to five.

-

Air, humid and heavy, encases you as you make the trek to the submarine aboard the  _ U.S.S Catalyst.  _ The wetsuit you wear, a deep navy interlaid with reflective silver stripes along the sides, clings to your body as a second skin, still soaked from the test dive you took a few minutes ago. One of the researchers from the ALPHA group walks up, her lab coat fluttering in the slight breeze.

“You ready?” she asks, brandishing a keycard as she walks alongside your strides. Her eyes are wide with excitement, pale blue irises catching the sunlight that reflects from the water below. Her assistant, a young college student named Jake, appears at your side.

“It’s completely alright if you aren’t,” he says, shooting a look at the woman. 

She rolls her eyes, huffing out a breath. “Of course, but you’re ready,” she says, glancing at you as she walks forward. “We’ve been at this for over a year; I’d wager a bet that you’re the best qualified for this job on the planet.”

You laugh, tension rolling from where it’d taken up residence on your shoulders. “I’m ready.” Your voice is strong, confident from the research and tests that’ve compromised the past year of your life. All of the variables have been thought out, tested, and prevented. “I’m ready.”

-

Obsidian metal stretches before you, seeming to block out the sun with its vast expanse. The platform it resides upon is lowered, and it reduces down to a manageable size as it grows near. A sleek black bullet, top opened, calls to you. Leaning in, you ensure that everything is packed - containers for samples are stored away from the seats, an extra wetsuit hanging from a steel rod, and canisters of oxygen line the walls. “Everything’s good,” you say, standing back up to full height. 

The captain of the ship, an older man named Huxley, claps you on the back. “Hop in, then! No time like the present!” His energy is exemplified by the pride he feels, the pride he’s felt ever since his ship had been selected to see the mission through. For the past year, he’s spent every one of his waking moments ensuring that the  _ Catalyst  _ would be perfect in every way she could possibly be.

“Alright, alright,” you say, waving him off as you smile at him. The ALPHA team approaches, with the woman from earlier at the head.

“Is everything set?” she asks. After seeing your nod, she takes a deep breath. “I think we’re good to go.” She motions to the woman next to her who holds a simplistic helmet in her hands. 

“This is our worst-case scenario,” the woman says, upbeat despite the reason behind why she’s speaking. “I designed it myself; if the submarine breaches, just connect this to the two ports on either side of your neck, and plug in one of the oxygen tanks. It should hold up to the pressure down there for up to an hour before it caves in.”

“Caves in?” you ask, voice weak.

“Well, it won’t come to that,” she says, hurriedly trying to dismiss the sudden fear that’s crept up your spine. “We’d get to you long before then. It’ll be fine!”

“You’ll be fine,” the head scientist says. “Let’s get you inside.”

-

Fifteen minutes later, you’re sitting within the submarine as it’s lifted into the air by a crane aboard the ship. The sky dances above you as you’re unceremoniously dropped into the water, and, for a moment, the submarine rocks before righting itself. 

“ALPHA to sub, come in sub,” a voice rings out from the control board.

You hold down on the comm. “Sub to ALPHA, I’m in the water with no issues.”

“That’s great news. Your cameras are on, and you’ve got about two and a half hours before you reach Challenger Deep. We’ll let you have some time to yourself as you descend.”

“Thank you,” you say. “I’ll be sure to contact you if anything comes up.”

“Good luck.”

With that, the comm goes quiet, and you start your journey.

-

You enter the Midnight Zone sooner that you’d thought, and, in all honesty, sooner than you’d wished. When you took the job, you knew it would get unnerving to be so far below the waves, but you pushed through your fear and took the opportunity, determined to find out what the ocean’s depths had in store for you.

Now, as the dark expanse of nothingness stretches before you, and you know that it’ll only grow darker, deeper, you feel the edge of panic begin to creep in,

-

The only lights you’ve seen in the past hour were those of the fish that swim in the deep depths of the Abyssal Zone, and anything that was within reach of your submarine’s lights. A cookiecutter shark passes you by, and the sheer oddness of its face, large eyes with a mouth that looks as though it’d been drawn by a grade-school child, startles a laugh out of you. Everything down here looks as if it’s from an entirely different world; the large eyes, pale scales, and low-lit lamps hanging from heads of marine life paint a fascinating picture. 

If you had time, you’d love to have the opportunity to explore within the various caverns you see on your way down, but your objective was clear: Get to the bottom, take photos, and leave before anything goes wrong.

The fin of what you believe to be a tripod spiderfish flits past your view, silver scales glinting in the light, too quick to take a photo of. You hope that you’ll run into it again on your way back to the surface.

-

As you enter the Hadal Zone, you feel uneasy. The utter silence, save for the whirring of machinery above your head, is beginning to get to you. With every fish that the light illuminates, a deep-seated instinct in your mind perceives it as a threat.

_ Perhaps, _ you think,  _ there is a reason humans were never meant to go here. _

-

You’ve reached the bottom. The puffs of sand moved by the water displaced by your submarine is almost comical after miles of nothingness. 

The species down here are mildly interesting at best. Mainly fish, with the occasional stray strand of seaweed, float by in silence. The crew of the _Catalyst_ only spoke once, confirming that you reached the bottom before they decided to leave you be, alone with your thoughts as you maneuver around the ocean floor.

A shade of neon catches your eye, shockingly red against the muted blues and blacks that encompass your surroundings. It seems to beckon to you; calling for you to follow it.

Against your better instincts, you take the controls and begin to trail behind it.

-

For minutes, it leads you through the open water, with nothing distinguishing the passage of time save for the clock on your dashboard. When it turns, a sharp motion, you almost keep going straight in a daze. 

When colors begin to appear once again, you think you may be having a stroke. 

A large collection of green stones seem to burn your eyes with their brightness, sticking out of their surroundings with an almost violent hue. It doesn’t end there, though. The very sand beneath your ship slowly changes from the brown silt to an impenetrable black, opaque to the point where you cannot tell when the sand shifts in the ocean’s current.

A cavern looms ahead of you, and you have a decision to make. Whether you continue, finding the secrets the ocean leads you to, or if you go to the surface, reporting what you’ve found, is your choice, and your choice alone.

What do you want to do?

**Author's Note:**

> any settings/tropes you'd like to see? any thoughts on what happened after? I'd love to hear them!


End file.
